Challenge

FRA had only three days to investigate payments made by an energy company to an employee in Yemen and negate contentious claims that overpayments were made to facilitate bribes to foreign officials. To complicate the extraction of crucial information, the company’s branch in Yemen had been shut down and there were no active accounting systems or easily accessible records to use for evidence.

Action

FRA assembled and deployed a team of experts with Arabic language skills and experience in data forensics, financial databases, and forensic accounting. The work on the ground included reassembling old hardware and recreating the computer environment from which the relevant data was imaged. The team was able to access encrypted and corrupted files, as well as repair, segregate, consolidate, and analyze data into a single revealing database report.

Results

FRA’s efforts over a single weekend gave the client the necessary evidence to refute bribery allegations and avoid reputational damage, as well as dodge the inevitable high costs for a legal defense.